Coach feels pain of Lashoff's injury

Published 11:00 pm, Monday, November 14, 2011

ALBANY -- Coach Dallas Eakins admits he didn't expect to see defenseman Matt Lashoff wearing a Toronto Marlies uniform for long this season. He just didn't expect it to happen under these circumstances.

Lashoff, an East Greenbush native in his sixth season of professional hockey, injured his knee Oct. 30 on what Eakins called "a questionable hit" by Patrick Bordeleau of the Lake Erie Monsters.

Eakins said Lashoff could be out as long as six months, which would be the remainder of the American Hockey League regular season.

"That has really crushed us," Eakins said. "He's a huge part of our team. He's a big part of our organization. I was happy to have him, but wasn't sure how long we were going to have him here. I firmly believed in a month or so he would wind up back in the NHL."

Lashoff, 25, has played 74 NHL games. A 2005 first-round draft choice (22nd overall) of the Boston Bruins, he was hoping that Toronto, his third organization, would be his ticket to a regular NHL spot.

"It breaks my heart, because I love the kid," Eakins said. "He's a hard-working kid. He's good character. He's done everything we've asked of him in the organization.

"I thought that we would have him for a little bit, let's enjoy him, and he'll be gone. Then he gets a knee injury on a questionable hit in Cleveland and he's gone for six months."